


Delay

by tomatopudding



Series: Redux [3]
Category: Bones (TV), Torchwood
Genre: Crossover, Episode Related, Episode Remix, F/M, Het, Het and Slash, M/M, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-20
Updated: 2011-07-20
Packaged: 2017-10-21 13:51:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/225904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomatopudding/pseuds/tomatopudding
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Temperance Brennan and Seeley Booth are visiting Cardiff for Jack and Ianto’s civil partnership ceremony when an old friend of Jack’s appears. A re-write of “Fragments” and “Exit Wounds”. With Booth, Brennan, and Emmy in the mix, what will be different? Yes, there are lines of text directly from the episode. I do not own those words.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Delay

**Author's Note:**

> Setting: Two years after "Behind Blue Eyes" (May 2010)

SECTION 3

Part 1

There was a large envelope waiting on her desk when forensic anthropologist Dr Temperance Brennan entered her office in the Jeffersonian Institute’s Medico-Legal Lab. It was cream-colored with her name and the Institute’s address on it in fancy printed script. There was no return address. Temperance frowned and slid the envelope open. From within she drew a piece of cream-colored card-stock and a smaller envelope with an address but no name. The address was for Cardiff, Wales. Temperance’s frown turned to a grin as she read what was written on the card-stock. 

She was still grinning when the her FBI partner, Special Agent Seeley Booth walked into the lab. The various members of Brennan’s team were doing whatever it was they did when there was no murder case to solve.

‘Heya, Bones,’ Booth called out, swiping his access card and leaping up the stairs to the forensic platform.

Brennan looked up from the Iron Age skeleton that she and her assistant Zack Addy were examining. When Booth saw Brennan’s grin, he stopped in his tracks, looking frightened. Booth leaned over to the entomologist, Dr Jack Hodgins.

‘Is she a pod person?’ the agent stage whispered.

To everyone’s surprise, Brennan laughed.

‘Whoa,’ Booth said, hands held in front of his chest defensively, ‘The last time I saw you like this was in Cardiff. You’re not going back, are you?’

Booth was referring to a time a couple years previously when, after discovering that she wasn’t exactly who she thought she was, Brennan had ended up in Cardiff, Wales. This much was known by everybody now. However, only Booth knew that she had worked for a secret alien-catching organization called Torchwood.

‘No,’ Brennan assured him, ‘Well, not permanently. Here,’ she handed him a square of card-stock, ‘I’d like you to come with me.’

Booth blinked at her in surprise and looked down at the card.

 

You are invited to attend  
the civil partnership ceremony  
of  
Captain Jack Harkness  
and  
Ianto Jones

Underneath was a date, one week in the future. The agent looked up at his expectant partner.

‘Sure, I’ll come.’

‘Go with her where?’ asked Angela Montenegro, and artist and Brennan’s best friend.

‘Yeah,’ Hodgins agreed, leaning over Booth’s shoulder to read the invitation, ‘and who are Jack and Ianto?’ 

‘It’s pronounced Yan-toe,’ Brennan corrected, ‘and they’re people I met while I was away.’

They didn’t speak much about that time. It had been very difficult for everyone.

‘Jack was the American guy in the coat, right?’ Booth asked, trying to remember the Torchwood team.

‘Yes,’ Brennan confirmed, ‘Ianto’s the one in the suit who brought the coffee.’

Booth nodded in remembrance. He had been a bit in shock about Brennan’s alien catching profession and the fact that she carried a gun, but he remembered the coffee.

‘I’ll have to request leave,’ Booth told her, ‘How long?’

‘I was hoping to leave this weekend,’ Brennan said, ‘I’d like a couple of days to visit with everyone.

‘So,’ Booth did a quick calculation in his head, ‘Five days. Got it.’

Brennan had a slight spring in her step for the rest of the day.

Part 2

They were met at the airport by a widely grinning Jack Harkness, his dimples showing, blue wool greatcoat draped around his frame.

‘Tempe!’

He drew her into a fierce hug. When they broke apart, the Captain turned his attention to Booth, extending a hand.

‘Special Agent Booth.’

Booth shook the man’s hand, grip firm.

‘I hope we have more of a chance to get to know each other,’ he said truthfully, ‘Have to make sure you’re a good match for her.’

Ignoring Booth’s confused sputtering of denial, Jack returned his attention to his former colleague.

‘There’s someone you need to meet,’ he told her.

‘Oh?’

Jack nodded and, grinning, tapped his ear where Brennan knew a comm-link, not visible to the naked eye, was settled. From the crowd, a young woman emerged and moved to stand next to Jack.

‘Tempe, this is my daughter.’

Brennan looked between them in confusion, ‘Unless I’ve been gone for longer than I thought, that is not possible.’

‘Everything is possible with time travel,’ the young woman said, extending a hand politely, ‘Emilié Harkness-Jones. Call me Emmy.’

‘Ianto formally adopted her, too,’ Jack said with a dopey grin.

‘Pleasure to meet you, Emmy,’ Brennan said, ‘I am Dr Temperance Brennan.’

When Emmy turned to Booth, a wave of intoxicating scent engulfed the agent, causing him to lose his ability to speak and momentarily making him forget his name.

‘Special Agent Seeley Booth,’ he said finally, dazed.

‘Emmy,’ Jack warned, flicking her ear slightly.

The young woman winced and pouted for a moment, then the scent cleared, along with Booth’s mind.

‘Huh?’ Booth mumbled unintelligently, blinking.

‘51st Century pheromones,’ Jack explained, frowning at Emmy, who looked away, chastened, ‘This isn’t the Time Agency, young lady. How many times do I have to tell you that we don’t use those methods?’

‘Sorry, father,’ the young woman apologized, sounding like she had done so multiple times previously.

‘Right,’ the Captain turned his attention to his guests, grin returning to his handsome features, ‘Everyone’s excited to see you. Gwen’s offered to let you and Agent Booth stay at her place. Rhys isn’t too happy about it, but he doesn’t like anything having to do with Torchwood.’

Brennan chuckled. Oh yes, she remembered Gwen’s husband - affectionately called Lunk when Gwen wasn’t in earshot. He was a sweet guy who was concerned that his wife spent so much time in the company of a dashingly handsome man like Jack. She hoped that Jack and Ianto’s upcoming ceremony might ease Rhys’ suspicions.

After picked up Booth and Brennan’s bags, Jack led the way to the airport parking lot. Instead of the big, black Torchwood SUV, they loaded the bags into the boot of an emerald green Honda Civic.

‘This is Ianto’s car, really,’ Jack explained as they climbed in, ‘He was getting tired of going everywhere in the SUV. I have a car too, but Ianto says it’s too flashy to be driving around everywhere. Plus, it only has two seats.’

Jack flipped through his mobile for a moment and handed to back to them. Pictured was a sleek, cherry red sports car.

‘Whoa,’ Booth breathed in awe, ‘That’s an Alfa Romeo!’

Jack grinned and took his phone back without even taking his eyes off the road.

‘I was torn between the Alfa and a McClaren F1, but I think you can see which one I decided on.’

‘Can I get a ride?’ Booth asked, a hint of pleading in his voice.

‘Sure,’ Jack laughed.

Brennan was impressed. A year ago, Jack would have made a lewd comment on the double entendre of the word ride. Obviously, Emmy was a calming influence on his dirty jokes. Or maybe he was holding himself back because his daughter was in the car. This, if she thought about it, didn’t really make sense. Emmy was also from the 51st Century, she had to be as dirty-minded as her father.

They soon arrived at a rather nice apartment complex and, after being buzzed in, Jack led the way to the fourth floor. It was a walk up, so even Booth with his FBI and army experience was getting out of breath. Before they could knock on the door, it was opened by Gwen, who immediately drew Brennan into a hug. the two women had really gotten along well when Brennan had been there.

‘How are you, luv?’ Gwen asked after she pulled away.

‘I’m doing great. You remember Booth?’

Gwen extended a hand to the agent, showing off the gap between her front teeth in a pleasant smile, ‘We didn’t have a chance to be properly introduced. I’m Gwen Cooper-Williams.’

‘Seeley Booth.’

Once they were inside, Brennan exchanged greetings with her three other former colleagues - even managing to get a small, one-armed side hug from Owen - before introducing Booth. As they all chattered and caught up, Booth was approached by a heavy-set man who introduced himself in a rich Welsh accent.

‘Rhys Williams,’ he said with a smile, drying his hands on the dish towel he was holding, ‘Welcome to the ranks of the Torchwood Widows.’

‘Torchwood Widows?’ Booth queried with a humorous raise of his eyebrow. 

‘Oh, aye,’ Rhys confirmed jovially, ‘Partners and significant others of Torchwood operatives.’

‘Bones isn’t coming back to work here,’ Booth told him, completely forgetting to point out that he wasn’t actually Brennan’s significant other.

‘That may be true enough, but she’ll always be a part of Torchwood at heart,’ Rhys told him, ‘Why do you call her Bones anyway?’

‘She’s a forensic anthropologist,’ Booth explained, ‘she works with bones.’

‘And here I though it was because you watched too much _Star Trek_ as a kid,’ Rhys laughed, ‘Alright, you lot, food’s ready.’

‘His famous risotto,’ Gwen said, coming over to give her husband a peck on the lips.

‘Famous or not, it’s food,’ Rhys said, a blush coloring his cheeks at the praise.

They were a bit cramped around the small dining table, but soon the food was being passed around and it was too delicious for them to mind. Part way through the evening, Booth noticed that the Torchwood medic didn’t have any dishes in front of him.

‘Say, Owen,’ the agent said, catching the Londoner’s attention, ‘aren’t you going to eat? It’s really good.’

Owen looked upset for a moment, then her grimaced, ‘Wish I could, mate, but my body doesn’t digest food since I died.’

Booth frowned. that sentence made no sense, ‘What?’

‘The week before Joy - no, Temperance, sorry - came to work for us, I was shot and killed,’ Owen explained, ‘Jack brought me back to life with some alien technology and now I’m stuck this way.’

‘No joke?’

‘No joke. I can show you my bullet hole, if you like.’

‘Not at the dinner table,’ Ianto cut in as Owen reached for the hem of his t-shirt, sounding like a scolding father, ‘Some of us do eat.’

‘Spoilsport,’ Owen pouted.

‘Only when it comes to you,’ Ianto quipped back.

The two men grinned at each other.

‘I don’t like it when they get that look,’ Tosh said nervously.

‘I liked it better when they argued all the time,’ Gwen put in.

‘Me too. It made for some good angry sex,’ Jack piped up, leering at Ianto.

Brennan sighed to herself. She knew that Jack hadn’t lost all of his ability for crude jokes.

‘Not something I want to think about, father,’ Emmy said, face scrunching up in disgust.

They all laughed.

Part 3

When Booth woke up the next morning, he was alone. Normally, this wouldn’t be a strange thing, but he was positive that the previous evening Brennan had been there too. Gwen and Rhys’s apartment had an extra room that they usually used as a computer room, but it also contained a fold-out couch for guests. It had been slightly awkward at first sharing the bed with Brennan, but Booth had mentally slapped himself and gotten over it. The agent glanced at the clock. It was 0700. Why he was awake and not jet lagged, Booth had no idea.

Booth rose and dressed in jeans and a gray t-shirt with FBI written on the front in bold black letters. It was a shirt that he usually used for drills or when he worked out. Sometimes, he and the other agents would play games of basketball or football with one team wearing the gray shirts and other team wearing white ones. Booth also strapped on his gun strap, which settled the weapon on his hip. He had learned from what Brennan had told him that it was better to be armed at all times. He slipped on a leather jacket that would not only keep him warm in the October chill, but also hide his SIG from view.

In the kitchen, he found Gwen and Rhys, but not Brennan.

‘Morning,’ he offered, catching their attention.

‘Good morning,’ Gwen replied, ‘I thought you’d be jet lagged.’

‘Me too,’ Booth admitted, ‘Where’s Bones?’

‘She was up early,’ the Welshwoman told him, turning on her mobile phone, ‘Went in to work.’

‘We just got here yesterday,’ Booth said incredulously, ‘And she’s not here to work.’

Gwen shrugged as her mobile chirped, telling her that she had a message. It was obviously not personal, as she played it on speaker phone. Ianto’s voice emerged from the device.

‘Gwen, we’ve texted you the location, we’re querying four or five signs of life, definitely non-human. We have Temperance with us, but get here as soon as you can.’ 

Gwen snapped the phone shut, ‘Gotta go, sweetheart.’

‘Wait a moment,’ Rhys said, ‘We’ve only got one car and I wanted to take Agent Booth on a tour of the city.’

‘So, drive me to where they are and then go,’ Gwen said, collecting her own firearm, ‘I’ll ride back in the SUV.’

When Booth shrugged in indifference, Rhys agreed and the three piled into the car. They chatted half-heartedly as they drove; it was early and Gwen was worried about the team.

‘You can call me Seeley,’ Booth told them at one point, ‘Not many people do, but I don’t mind.’

Any response was cut off as they arrived at the location to find rubble. The building was little more than a frame.

‘Shit, they’re in there!’ Gwen said as they hopped out of the car.

‘Bones!’ Booth called out worriedly.

‘You go find her,’ Gwen told him, ‘We’ll get Jack and the others.’

Without acknowledging her words, Booth entered the building.

‘Bones! Bones!’

He found her eventually, half-buried under stones. Luckily, they didn’t seem to have broken nothing too vital, just pinned her.

‘Bones.’

Booth knelt, pulling her head into his lap and stroking her dust-covered hair.

‘Bones? Temperance, wake up.’

Slowly, she complied, eyes fluttering open, ‘Booth?’

‘Are you alright?’ Booth asked.

Brennan thought for a moment, taking inventory, ‘Yes.’

‘Thank god,’ Booth breathed, head hanging in relief.

In a rush, not really thinking about what he was doing, Booth leaned down and pressed a firm kiss to Brennan’s lips. When he pulled away, they just stared at each other, electricity seeming to crackle through the air.

‘There you are.’

The tension was broken by the arrival of Jack and Ianto. Together, the two men hoisted enough rocks off of Brennan for Booth to pull her out. When she tried to stand, however, her left ankle buckled and she found herself tumbling into Booth’s arms.

‘I think it’s sprained,’ Brennan said, looking down at her torn clothing, ‘I remember falling while I was trying to get away from the bomb.’

‘At least sprained it all that it is,’ Jack commented darkly.

The four of them found Rhys and Tosh and then went outside to rendezvous with Gwen and Owen.

‘You okay?’ Jack asked his final team members.

Owen ignored the question, focusing instead on his female coworkers, ‘You alright? Tosh, Tempe, what happened?’

‘Broken arm,’ Tosh replied, ‘bruised ribs, about an inch away from being crushed by a girder.’

‘Sprained ankle,’ Brennan put in, ‘lots of scrapes, possibly some cracked ribs.’

‘You were lucky,’ Owen told them.

‘We all were,’ Ianto put in grimly.

‘Jack, who’s done this?’ Gwen asked, though she knew that the American didn’t have an answer.

Jack’s wrist strap beeped.

‘Might be Emmy,’ he said, though he didn’t sound confident about it. Emmy was currently at school.

It wasn’t Emmy. A hologram appeared. It was a man that the Torchwood team, minus Brennan, knew and hoped that they’d never see again.

‘Oh no,’ Ianto murmured.

‘Jack, what does he want?’ Gwen asked hotly.

‘Oh, deja vu!’ said the hologram of John Hart, ‘Or did I say that already? Hey team. ‘Course, there might be a few less of you by now. Don’t know if you liked my little gift. Of course, you can’t die,’ he sounded bitter, ‘And with all that life, all that time, you can’t spare some for me. Oh! Say hi to the family.’

The hologram of John pressed something on its own wrist strap, revealing a hologram of a young, dark-haired man.

‘No,’ Jack whispered, ‘It can’t be.’

‘Been a while since you’ve seen your brother, eh Jack?’ John sneered.

‘Gray?’ Jack said brokenly.

‘Okay, here’s what’s going to happen,’ John began, ‘Everything you love, everything you treasure, will die. I’m going to tear your world apart, Captain Jack Harkness, piece by piece. Starting now. Maybe now you’ll wanna spend time with me.’

The hologram of Gray blinked out. john took a moment to smirk before, he, too, blinked out. Jack stared at the place they had been, features set in a grim expression.

Part 4

Owen and Brennan climbed out of the extremely crowded car at St Helen’s Hospital. Booth wasn’t too happy about being separated from his partner, especially because she was limping, but he knew that he had to defer to Jack as his senior officer, even though Booth himself wasn’t actually part of Torchwood, and the Captain had assigned him to go with Gwen and Rhys to the police station. It was all hands on deck for this mission, Torchwood operative or not. 

Owen and Brennan entered the hospital and asked around until they found the person who had the most knowledge about what was going on, Dr Angela Conolly. Their comm links bleeped and Gwen’s voice came over the line.

‘Owen, Tempe, do you have anything to report?’

‘We’ve got some activity in the basement,’ Brennan answered, limping after the two doctors.

‘Coming back from a fag break,’ Dr Conolly was saying, ‘saw the door open and there it is! Chewing through the cables! So, I locked it in.’

Once Owen had entered the room, box of cigarettes in hand, Conolly turned to Brennan with wide, fright-filled eyes.

‘Don’t worry,‘ Brennan reassured her, ‘Dr Harper knows what he’s doing.’

Conolly’s eyes widened further, ‘He’s a doctor?’

‘Yes, and I am an anthropologist.’

‘Who are you people?’

Brennan smiled grimly, ‘Torchwood.’

Brennan’s comm link bleeped and then a voice floated through it to her ear. It was a voice she only recognized from a hologram.

‘Attention Torchwood employees,‘ John sneered, ‘Evening all! Now, stop what you’re doing.’

‘Jack,’ it was Gwen, ‘what’s going on, are you okay?’

‘Jack can’t come to the comms right now,’ John taunted in a sing-song voice, ‘But if you leave a message, I’ll be sure to pass it along.’

‘What have you done to him?’ Gwen again.

‘No, no, wrong question. You should be asking what I’m about to do to you.’

The tone of John’s voice said that it would be nothing pleasant.

‘Put Jack on right now!’ Ianto all but growled.

‘Eye Candy! That was so masterful, so bossy, so basically powerless. Get up to the roofs of your buildings. Quickly now, spit spot.’

‘Why?’ Owen spat out and Brennan heard it in stereo, through the comm as well as in person as Owen hurtled out of the room, grabbing her hand. They ran together, despite the shooting pain in Brennan’s ankle and Conolly calling after them.

‘‘Cause if you don’t, you’ll miss all the fun. Hold on a minute, do I mean fun or do I mean carnage? I get them confused. Are you running yet? No dawdling now.’

Brennan was very quickly tiring of John’s voice. She and Owen made it up on the roof, breathing hard - Brennan from actual need and Owen more from instinct, even so long after his death. The city lay out below them, a light-spotted echo of the star-studded sky.

‘Now, Cardiff,’ John said, a mocking sigh, ‘Isn’t it pretty? Doesn’t it twinkle so? Take a good look. Remember this,’ his tone turned cold, ‘because it all goes so quick.’

Then, the explosions began.

Part 5

Booth looked over the city in shock as Gwen rallied the Torchwood troops. She was talking at break-neck speed. He caught something about a nuclear power plant and the hospital, but all he could seem to register was the burning city below.

‘Where are you, Jack?’ Gwen murmured, ‘Where are you?’

Part 6

The hospital was in chaos. All of the electronic machines had shut down. It was a madhouse full of running and shouting. Brennan was just outside the front door, resting her pained ankle and catching her breath from the melee inside. Although she wasn’t part of the action, from her place outside she could hear everything going on through her comm link. The nuclear power station was on the fritz and couldn’t be accessed remotely. Somebody would have to risk their life and do it manually.

‘‘Owen, Gwen, Tempe, can you hear me?’ Ianto’s voice came over the comms, sounding like he was just managing to keep calm in the face of Jack’s disappearance, ‘The streets are flooded with Weevils, they came out of nowhere. There’s no chance we’ll get to the nuclear power station in time.’

Brennan felt her heart sink even as Owen spoke up, ‘Ianto, leave it to me. I can get there.’

‘How?’

‘King of the Weevils, remember?’

Brennan caught Owen’s arm as he exited the building, bringing the medic to a halt.

‘They need more hands in there,’ Owen told her.

Brennan gave a small nod, features set. She may not have experience with live patients, but in a crisis, everybody could help.

‘Owen!’

It was someone else who had spoken and they turned to see Emmy rushing towards them.

‘What are you doing here?’ Owen asked her, ‘Don’t you have classes?’

‘They’re over for the day. I saw what happened,’ she held up the arm with her wrist strap, ‘Thought that I could be some help.’

‘Great thinking, Bit,’ Owen said, using an affectionate nickname and making the young woman smile slightly, ‘You and Tempe can go help inside.’

‘Where are you going?’ Emmy asked.

‘I have to go manually stop the nuclear plant from going into meltdown,’ Owen replied, his voice sharp, but with a distinct undertone of fear.

‘Take this.’

Emmy removed the strap from her wrist and wrapped it around Owen’s. She flipped it open and pointed to a button, ‘Press this and it will take you to the docks where I first arrived. Just in case.’

Owen gave her a rare, true smile, ‘Thanks, Bit.’

Then, he was off, disappearing into the night.

Part 7

Booth was tugged out of the stupor he had been in while Gwen questioned John by the sound of gunshots. There were three Weevils on the floor of the Hub, Tosh and Ianto holding smoking guns in front of them. With a determined look on his face, Ianto strode forward, gun trained on John. Booth rushed forward to stop the Welshman.

‘Don’t start, I’ll make things right, Eye Candy,’ John promised.

‘Forgive me if I don’t believe you,’ Ianto hissed sarcastically, almost too soft to hear.

‘Then start by getting those Weevils down to the vaults before they recover,’ Tosh commanded.

Ianto, Gwen, and John each took hold of one of the Weevils. Seeing that they were alright, Booth looked over Tosh’s shoulder as she began to type.

Tosh was talking Owen through holding off the meltdown when he heard a sound from the shadows. His training kicked in and Booth was instantly on alert, eyes scanning. There was a glint of metal in the gloom and Booth stepped in front of Tosh’s exposed back just as a shot went off, hitting him in the chest. He fell to the floor, the person in the shadows disappearing and Tosh’s voice in his ear.

Part 8

Owen called frantically into his comm. Tosh wasn’t answering and he had heard a shot.

‘Tosh!’ he almost shouted, ‘Talk to me. I need your help here, babe.’

The endearment slipped out unintentionally, but he didn’t make any move of taking it back, unsure if Toshiko had heard him at all. Suddenly, the red lights that had been flashing turned back to normal.

‘Here we go. Right, you’ve got it Tosh, you’ve got power!’ Owen said happily. He heard a muffled sob, ‘Are you okay?’

‘Yeah, I’m fine.’

‘Right, what’s going on there?’

‘It’s Agent Booth,’ she said, close to a whisper.

‘What happened?’

‘Someone pulled a gun, I don’t know who. He’s shot, Owen!’

She sounded close to tears again and Owen made calming noises.

‘Hush,’ he soothed, ‘He’s FBI, he’ll be fine,’ this was empty sentence, he didn’t know where Booth had been shot, ‘Now, come on, gorgeous, let’s do this together.’

‘Right, okay. Oh, god, Owen...’

‘What’s the matter?’

‘There’s no way to stop the meltdown. It’s too far gone.’

Owen felt the panic rising in his chest as he spoke, ‘Okay, that is not good, is it? But, come on, Tosh, there’s got to be something, there’s always something. Come on.’

Owen listened intently as Tosh told him how to vent the radiation to the room he was in and set up the countdown timer.

‘And remember to get out of there,’ Tosh told him.

‘Yeah, I think I can remember that bit,’ Owen assured with a mirthless chuckle.

‘I’ll open the system protocol,’ Tosh explained, ‘You just need to enter the timeframe and authorize, okay?’

‘Okay, Tosh,’ Owen confirmed, ‘Let’s do this thing. And Tosh? Thank you.’

‘That’s what I’m here for.’

‘My little genius,’ Owen said with a smile.

He began working, setting the countdown. Then, Tosh noticed the power surge. Owen felt his emotions in turmoil as he realized what it meant, what he would lose. As the world was collapsing around him, he remembered Emmy’s gift. Flipping the wrist strap open, he closed his eyes and hit the button. Then, for the first time since his death, Owen Harper prayed.

Part 9

Tosh felt the tears slide down her cheeks as she lost contact with Owen. Then, Jack was behind her.

‘Toshiko?’

She looked at him, but his eyes were on the fallen Special Agent Booth, who had a very visible hole through his leather jacket, directly over his heart. Jack recognized the kind of hole it was. The Captain was brought from his morbid thoughts by the sound of Ianto’s voice.

‘The nuclear plant at Turnmill.’

‘Sealed in,’ Tosh explained, silent tears still falling, ‘Re-routed the blast. I couldn’t save him.’

‘Couldn’t save who?’

Three gasps were heard simultaneously as three heads turned to the sound of the voice. Owen grinned.

‘Owen!’

Tosh practically launched herself at the medic, wrapping her arms around his narrow waist, pressing her lips to his despite the fact that they were cold. Owen responded in kind.

‘Aw! You are so cute!’

The two broke apart, Tosh blushing and Owen looking like he would if he could. Jack turned his eyes on the new arrivals.

‘Emmy, what are you doing here?’

‘She saved my life,’ Owen told him.

The medic stripped off Emmy’s wrist strap and the young woman bounded over to take it back with a grin.

‘And Booth saved mine,’ Tosh commented softly.

‘Booth?’ Brennan queried, eyes widening.

Tosh glanced down to where Booth lay then back to Brennan. The anthropologist looked towards the ground and gasped, eyes filling with tears.

‘Booth...’

Jack went over to his friend and former colleague and drew her into his arms as she cried.

‘What’s wrong, Bones?’

Brennan stiffened, pulled away form Jack, and turned. There was suddenly a re-enactment of what Toshiko and Owen had just done, with great fervor. When they finally broke apart, Brennan studied his face intently, then her eyes flicked down to look at the hole in his jacket.

‘How?’

Booth took off his ruined jacket - too bad, he liked that jacket - and slid the t-shirt - also ruined - over his head to reveal a black bullet-proof vest.

‘I may not be a boy scout, but I’m always prepared.’

Brennan laughed a slid a finger over the bullet still embedded in the vest.

‘Did it hurt?’

‘Knocked the wind out of me,’ Booth admitted, ‘I fell and hit my head on the desk. It knocked me out.’

Booth opened the vest, revealing his muscled chest (eliciting an appreciative whistle from Jack) and a round bruise the size of a quarter over his heart.

‘Looks like we all need a bit of patching up,’ Owen said cheerfully, ‘I love working on live patients instead of dead ones for a change. That’s why I became a doctor!’

Part 10

They were such a debonaire couple, standing side by side. They were both wearing classic black tuxedos, with different colored accents. Ianto was wearing a red cummerbund and bow tie, which Jack sported blue ones. Emmy was a lovely flower girl (“Flower woman,” she had insisted) in an elegant cream-colored gown with a plunging neckline and capped sleeves, a large fake ruby glittering at her throat.

Booth was in his usual FBI suit and skinny tie. He also had on his “Cocky” belt buckle and brightly-colored striped socks hidden under his pants legs. Beside him stood Brennan. Her hair was pulled into a bun, leaving her slender neck exposed. She wore a strapless amethyst gown studded with tiny, shining beads.

Tosh had managed to convince Owen to wear suit pants and a jacket, but he had refused the button-down shirt, wearing a t-shirt instead. To his credit, the shirt was white and printed with the image of lapels, buttons, and a bow tie, making it have the appearance of a dress shirt. Toshiko, on the other hand, was wearing a very modest and flattering burgundy gown with a scoop neck and three-quarter-length sleeves. 

Rhys was very spiffy in his suit and green tie, which Gwen looked quite glamorous in and off-the-shoulder teal gown. 

The woman officiating the ceremony smiled at the happy couple before her as she said the final words. Jack and Ianto stared into each other’s eyes like moonstruck teenagers, love shining from every pore. As they kissed, every guest present couldn’t help but smile and sling to their respective partners.

‘That Emmy is a smart girl,’ Brennan murmured to Booth as everyone began to mingle and make their way to congratulate the two men, ‘Works well under pressure, follows orders.’

‘And?’

‘She has a degree in criminology from a two year college, she’s looking for work, and has experience with firearms. Maybe you can put in a good word for her at the FBI.’

Booth thought for a moment, looking over at the young woman in question.

‘Maybe I will.’


End file.
